As published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, E. Jesperson and colleagues (2013) conducted a cohort study to understand youth sports injuries. Researchers specifically looked at the incidence of traumatic and overuse injuries in kids ages 6 to 12 years.
The research on youth sports injuries was conducted over a 2 ½ year period. Traumatic injuries tended to be more common than overuse. Over a one week period, injury incidence in the sample was 1.2% (overuse) and 4.6% (traumatic).
Researchers found some interesting differences between overuse and traumatic youth sports injuries. Overuse injuries were 2.5 times more likely to affect lower extremities than traumatic injuries (for example, this includes legs, ankles, feet, and knees).
Injury duration for lower extremities lasted about 5 weeks. When looking at upper extremities, researchers found that there were 3.1 times more injuries to upper extremities caused by traumatic injury than overuse injuries.
Factors affecting the risk of lower extremity youth sports injuries include:
- Grade level
- Leisure sport participation
- Seasonal variation
Grade level was the only factor that was statistically associated with injury to upper extremities. Learn more info on this interesting research on overuse injury and traumatic injury among kids for a deeper understanding of youth sports injuries.
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